Takeheart Health Check      

Smoking is public enemy number one. (465)   Obesity, alcohol, stress, lack of exercise (90, 408, 435, 437, 491), high blood pressure and high cholesterol are all reversible risk factors. The sooner you discover how you stand and take appropriate action the better. Risk control takes time to be effective.

Heart disease is not an executive perk(400). It is twice as common on the shop floor. It is here amongst the young and the ordinary workers, both men and women, where the risks should be assessed, advice given and motivation encouraged if we are to make an impact on the epidemic. The assessment has to be authoritative, to the point and good value for money.

Is there any link between unemployment and heart attack risk?

Assessing coronary risk is complex. Important considerations are its multifactorial nature, quality control and counselling. The latter should be comprehensive, legible, friendly and in your own language. It should be written, the spoken word is soon forgotten. A written report can be shared with your spouse and your doctor. It is reinforced each time you read it.

The TAKEHEART HEALTH CHECK achieves this. It involves your absence from desk or bench for half an hour only.

Your history, weight, height, body mass index, peak expiratory flow rate, alveolar carbon monoxide, blood pressure, cholesterol, liver function and stress levels are measured. Calculations are made and your report is printed immediately (515). This is six or seven pages long and contains your results, their interpretation, counselling and predictions. There is a "What if?" section, a recommended reading list and a "While I am here" section. It can be written in English or French with other languages in the pipeline. Each statement is referenced in the appropriate literature. Confidentiality is guaranteed. It takes twenty minutes.

Quality assurance is stressed. Routines are incorporated in the setting up procedures. The results are kept on file. There is extensive range testing of the data.TAKEHEART belongs to the Wolfson Laboratory External Quality Assessment Scheme and is registered with the Data Protection Registrar (Data Protection Principles). The operators are qualified.

You can be seen in Norwich or everything can be put into our Mobile Clinic and set up at your work place, leisure centre or anywhere else. We are able and willing to come anywhere but would appreciate a session of about a dozen to make it worth our while.

An investment in your health is a long term proposition. It has an impact on the bottom line. It takes ten years or so for a decrease in coronary heart disease to show up in the statistics. Employees appreciate the concern shown by an invitation for us to come. Management appreciates information on how many (but not who). Comparisons can be made in place and time. We provide the spur for change in your life style, we pick up a number of sick people, we reassure, we help with undeclared troubles, we assist with items tangential to heart disease. We explain to you. Outcome studies show our effectiveness. We are good.

The cost is £80. This cannot be bettered by your in house procedures of a similar quality. It should be compared with the over £54 cost to the National Health Service for an attendance at a diabetic clinic in general practice in 1992.(257)